1. Field Of The Invention
This invention relates to burners for burning petroleum products during well testing, and more particularly, to a burner apparatus having a body which may have multiple burner nozzles therein and an easily disassembled and cleaned water spray ring assembly.
2. Description Of The Prior Art
When well tests are performed, disposal of the petroleum or other hydrocarbon products therefrom is generally carried out by burning. One problem with burning the hydrocarbon products is in insuring that the burner can adequately handle the amount of hydrocarbons to be burned. This requires that the nozzles in the burner atomize the petroleum products as much as possible and that an adequate air supply be provided to insure as Complete combustion as possible. There is also a necessity to protect the rest of the well installation from the great amount of heat generated by the burner and to reduce the black smoke produced.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,894,831 to Glotin et al. discloses a burner having multiple individual burner assemblies or nozzles which are pointed in slightly divergent directions. A ring-like water injection system is disposed around each burner nozzle, and the water injection system has a plurality of individual nozzles which direct a spray of water toward the flame. The water acts to reduce the radiated heat from the burner and also to reduce the amount of black smoke generated in the combustion process. The apparatus may be swiveled so that the flame is directed downwind from the well. Other burners which have multiple nozzles, are rotatable and have water sprays include those disclosed in British Patent No. 2,112,920 to Dewald; U.S. Pat. No. 4,348,171 to Issenmann; and U.S. Pat. No. 3,797,992 to Straitz, III. U.S. Pat. No. 3,980,416 to Goncalves et al. discloses a single nozzle burner which is rotatable and has ring-shaped water sprayers.
In the prior art burners with multiple nozzles, the nozzles are separate, individual assemblies and therefore require relatively complex piping systems. The relatively large number of connections increases the possibility of leaks of petroleum products, air and/or water, any of which could cause problems. The present invention solves this problem by providing a burner with a body which may have a plurality of nozzle ports therein. A single petroleum connection and a minimum of air connections to the body may be used.
An additional problem with prior art burners having water spray systems is that these utilize individual water nozzles. These water nozzles must be cleaned individually and are difficult to clean in the first place. The present invention solves this problem by providing a burner with a water ring which comprises an inner ring and an outer ring, wherein one of the rings has a plurality of notches therein. The notches form the water spray openings, and the rings are easily separated so that the notches are exposed for simple cleaning.